Law is the system of rules that governs the behavior and activities of a society, state or nation. It is a set of principles and regulations that are enforced through penalties. Laws are created by a sovereign entity, such as a government or corporation, and they are designed to promote peace, discourage conflict and protect individual rights. In human societies laws help to keep the peace, provide order, establish property ownership, and facilitate social change. There are many different theories of Law and its meaning, but most agree that it is a collection of rules that are meant to control human behavior.
The earliest records of the term ‘law’ are found in ancient texts and it is believed to be derived from the Old Norse lag, which means “laying an order” or “fixing a tune.” Early laws were established to ensure the safety of a group by setting boundaries for people to stay within and also to create an ethical code for citizens to live by.
In modern times, a lawyer is a professional who is legally trained and qualified to practice law. They have a distinct professional identity that is recognised by a government or independent regulating body such as a bar association, bar council or law society. Lawyers are required to undergo legal education and training, and must complete a qualifying examination and pass the bar exam before they can be admitted to practise.
There are many definitions of Law, but most agree that it is a set of rules that are meant to control human behavior. Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham defined law as “commands, backed by the threat of sanctions, from a superior, to which men have a habit of obedience.” Natural lawyers, like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, argue that law reflects innate moral principles that are immutable and unchanging.
Roscoe Pound, a sociologist, defined law as “law is a mechanism for satisfying social wants by coercive force.” In this view, laws are designed to control human behavior and to meet the needs of a society.
The laws are written in a way that they can be interpreted by judges and other individuals. These interpretations are called case law or common law. Some judges and scholars believe that the law should be interpreted in its plain meaning. Others, including some constitutional scholars, think that the law should be interpreted according to the context in which it was enacted.
Law has a variety of purposes, and some legal systems are better at serving these purposes than others. For example, a nation ruled by an authoritarian regime may be able to keep the peace and maintain the status quo, but it is likely to oppress minorities or political opponents. A country that has a tradition of democracy, on the other hand, is more likely to achieve these goals through peaceful means.
Some legal scholars have suggested that the law is incomplete and that there are gaps in the legal system. They have argued that judges do not always make use of the law as it is written, but often go beyond the legal text when deciding cases. Raz 1996b suggests that this straddling of the divide undermines the tenable distinction between the law-finding and law-creating roles that many legal positivists ascribe to judges.